Djibouti was once just a patch of desert in the Horn of Africa. Now, global militaries are hankering for a strategic position at its junction between Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. Locals don't always see what's so great about hosting the world's superpower enemies.

US foreign policy is changing its stance toward Ethiopia, which is increasingly being drawn closer to a Saudi-led bloc as a cold war in the Gulf region opens up, the old forces — the US, UK and France — increasingly displaced by a new generation of Middle Eastern powers, with everyone racing to gain a foothold in what is becoming one of the world’s most militarized regions.

Though Haredim as a whole aim to isolate themselves from secular society, seeing it as a threat to their traditional way of life, a recent string of popular shows about these closed-off and highly conservative religious communities have emerged.

In some rural parts of Kenya, widowhood means you’re of little value. Culturally, widows are considered impure, and tradition dictates that they must be cleaned — or “cleansed” — of their partners’ death. The aim is to chase away the demons; the ritual requires women to have sex — either with a relative or stranger.

Late on Oct. 4, Verona’s local council approved a motion “to prevent abortion and sustain maternity,” which allows the use of public money to fund vehemently anti-abortion Catholic organizations and encourages doctors to dissuade women from aborting. The coalition of center-right councilors also tried and failed to present a motion that would require all aborted fetuses to be buried in a cemetery, even without the consent of the woman involved.